Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Pentagon: Jesus' Command is Court Martial Offense

Pentagon officials have confirmed their April 23rd consultation with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), an atheist organization, and the recent edict throughout the ranks that any personnel, including chaplains, adhering to Jesus' Great Commission to the Church will be severely punished.

“Until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior. . . . This is a national security threat. What is happening is spiritual rape. And what the Pentagon needs to understand is that it is sedition and treason. It should be punished.”-- President Mikey Weinstein, MRFF

Meanwhile, the Navy has shifted from a creed of doing "the right thing," to the Gay Agenda recruitment slogan of "fair treatment for all."

MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein says even a Christian bumper sticker on an officer's car or a Bible on an officer's desk can amount to "pushing this fundamentalist version of Christianity on helpless subordinates."

Weinstein and other leaders of his foundation met with top officials at the Pentagon last week.

The Rev. Ron Crews, who heads the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, agrees that faith shouldn't be forced on the lower ranks. But he says evangelical Christians believe that God wants them to share their faith with others.

“The armed forces are on the verge of falling apart,” Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, told me in an interview.

“The chain of command is compliant,” said Wilkerson. “Abuse of power is inimical to all military. Condoning of sexual assault or proselytizing is an abuse of command.” The idea of “zero tolerance,” he said, is “the most mocked phrase in the military. It camouflages a lot.”

Wilkerson was speaking to me in an interview with former ambassador Joe Wilson and the head of the private Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein. They were on their way to a meeting at the Pentagon on April 23 where they would discuss religious issues in a group that included several generals and a military chaplain.

The chaplain’s role, according to Wilson, “is to minister to spiritual needs. You don’t proselytize. It’s a workplace violation.”

The proselytizing they referred to is primarily from “dominionist” or fundamentalist evangelical Christians.

“Why would military leadership be meeting with one of the most rabid atheists in America to discuss religious freedom in the military,” [President of the Family Research Council, Tony] Perkins said. “That’s like consulting with China on how to improve human rights.”

The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News that Christian evangelism is against regulations.

“Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense,” LCDR Nate Christensen said in a written statement. He declined to say if any chaplains or service members had been prosecuted for such an offense.

“Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome in specific cases,” he said.

In a new recruiting ad for television, the U.S. Navy reinforces its commitment to the “fair treatment of all,” an apparent promotion of the new military policy of welcoming service members who openly declare themselves to be homosexual.

Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, is one of many who are asking whether Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama’s leading role in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in September 2011 will present a dilemma for those who oppose the policy but also vow to “obey the orders of those appointed over me.”

The Sailors’ Creed was modified . . . The newest text appears to give the orders of superiors the same weight as the U.S. Constitution and eliminates references to “responsibility” and doing “the right thing.” Adding a reference to obedience to superiors, the second line now reads:

Fearing the the new policy on homosexuals will erode religious liberty, the chaplains alliance worked with other groups to draft a preventative measure in the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2013. . . . When President Obama signed the bill in January, however, he issued a signing statement that rejected the conscience provision, calling it “unnecessary and ill-advised.”